Celebrating the great Canadian game. Tracking the NHL, the Canadian teams and a lot more!

Monday, January 25, 2010

We're sorry, but the Canucks are not ready for their close up Ron!

It's probably every hockey players dream to appear on Hockey Night in Canada, a chance to sit down beside Ron and Don before a game or with Scott and Kelly and at the end of it.

But until the folks at CBC (and yes we 're looking at you Ron MacLean) offer up an apology, it would seem that anyone with a big C and an orca on their chest will be a little camera shy.

The Canuck's still steamed at the handling of Alex Burrows by Judge MacLean a few weeks back, have issued their own version of the media black out on the NHL broadcasts featuring their team.

The disappearing Canucks began their hold out last Saturday when nary a Canuck showed up on camera prior to or after the Chicago Vancouver game. All part of their showing of support for Burrows who they believe was given a raw deal when MacLean provided his analysis and personal slant to the issue of the Auger/Burrows debate over officiating from a few weeks back.

How long this goes on before the Canucks either believe they have proved their point or Mr. MacLean issues an apology is a good question, though we imagine eventually the NHL will get involved in this as well, conscious of the image that is made from a team carrying out a fatwa against the leagues major money maker.

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So far, the CBC isn't budging from their support for MacLean, offering up the traditional right to make opinion and such as their defence for his report, which certainly wasn't particularly balanced.

Though they perhaps may wish to at least find an olive branch before things get too far along, the CBC would seem to have more to lose than the Canucks over the long term. With Vancouver playing rather well of late and looking like a serious playoff contender while the rest of Canada's teams are struggling to say the least, it could be that they are but the only realistic hope for a long running Canadian franchise in this years Stanley Cup playoffs.

If the Canucks continue to keep the cone of silence in place through til June, that's going to make for a lot of time to fill for Ron and his friends.

Will anyone blink first? Tune in on Saturday night when the Canucks travel into the heart of MacLean's domain with a game against the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre and see if the Cold War really is over.